“Entrance” by Dana GioiaPoetry 180: A Poem a Day for American High Schools, Hosted by Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2001-2003

Entrance

Whoever you are: step out of doors tonight,
Out of the room that lets you feel secure.
Infinity is open to your sight.
Whoever you are.
With eyes that have forgotten how to see
From viewing things already too well-known,
Lift up into the dark a huge, black tree
And put it in the heavens: tall, alone.
And you have made the world and all you see.
It ripens like the words still in your mouth.
And when at last you comprehend its truth,
Then close your eyes and gently set it free.
(After Rilke)

About the Poet

Dana Gioia (1950- ) served as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 to 2008. The author of the seminal essay “Can Poetry Matter?”, Gioia has published four poetry collections, including Pity the Beautiful (Graywolf Press, 2012).